Local Hawaii ingredients used with an international flair

Thursday, December 10, 2009

I was thrilled to see that The Hawaii Cattleman's Association will be bringing red veal to the KCC Farmers Market again this Saturday, 12/12. If you aren’t a vegetarian I urge you to give it a try (http://www.hfbf.org/farmersMarketKCC.shtml). If you can’t make it to KCC, R. Fields at Foodland Beretania carries it as well.

My mother was French so we ate veal pretty often. Not just the expensive cutlets, but stews (usually shoulder), veal breast (cheap in those days), liver, kidneys, and even brains. Much as I like veal I haven’t eaten it in many years because of ethical issues with how it is raised. So I was excited when I read about red veal, raised in Hawaii, which is raised without hormones, without antibiotics, and without cruelty (http://www.shareyourtable.com/get_fresh/2009/veal).

I decided to give it a try in October, when it was available for one day only at the KCC Farmer’s Market. I was hoping for an affordable bone-in breast but the breast was only available as a boned, rolled roast and beyond my budget. Ground veal and stew, however, were within reach.

The culinary students of Slow Food KCC were doing a red veal demo at the market and the Moroccan veal meatballs Gida Snyder cooked up were so fabulous I decided to duplicate it (http://slowfoodkcc.blogspot.com/2009/10/slow-food-cooking-demo-celebrating.html). I made only minor modifications to the meatballs, adding fennel seed along with the coriander and cumin seeds and lightly sweating the onion and garlic instead of using them raw. I happened to have a can of harissa, so I used that instead of making my own.

I plated it with a salad of coarsely chopped parsley & cilantro, sliced red onion, lemon juice, lemon zest and olive oil for a very special feast.